(3 Minutes Read)
WWF International’s 2024 Living Planet Report states that in 50 years until 2020, monitored wildlife populations worldwide shrunk on average by almost three-quarters. The report reveals a ‘system in peril’ as Africa faces dangerous, irreversible tipping points driven by nature loss and climate change.
WWF International’s 2024 Living Planet Report states that in 50 years until 2020, monitored wildlife populations worldwide shrunk on average by almost three-quarters. The report reveals a ‘system in peril’ as Africa faces dangerous, irreversible tipping points driven by nature loss and climate change. The Living Planet Index, which measures the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats, puts the decline in Africa at 76%.
The fastest drop was in Latin America and the Caribbean (95%), while North America registered an average decline of 39%. Europe and Central Asia clocked an average shrinkage rate of 35%. WWF International’s director general Kirsten Schuijt notes in the report that these figures are alarming for all of us who care about the state of our natural world.
Experts attribute the trend to habitat loss, overexploitation, and pollution. Other threats include the proliferation of invasive species, diseases and climate change. Schuijt reckons that the decline is “an indicator of the unrelenting pressure caused by the dual climate and nature loss crises − and the threat of breakdown to the natural regulatory system that underpins our living planet.
Freshwater populations have suffered the strongest declines (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and marine ecosystems (56%). According to experts, this reflects the increasing pressures placed on rivers, lakes, oceans, and wetlands from excessive grazing, fishing, land use, deforestation, pollution, and water abstraction. Freshwater fish, for example, are often threatened by dams and other alterations to their habitat, all of which block their migration routes.
Food production is the leading cause of habitat loss, accounting for 70% of water use and responsible for over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. The latter contributes to the rapid heating of the earth. The WWF report warns that ecosystem degradation could push the continent past critical tipping points unless targeted recovery and action plans are urgently implemented.
According to the report, what happens in the next five years will determine the future of life on Earth.
Kenya is seen as a beacon in conservation efforts after achieving various milestones, proving that consistency and collaborative interventions will help save species from extinction and ensure they thrive. Amid the decline in global wildlife populations, the East African nation has restored the dwindling count of priority species such as the African lion, the elephant, and the black rhino. Intense conservation efforts have stabilised the situation and led to an increase in numbers across all three species.
Kenya is leading the way in making significant contributions to fighting climate change and restoring nature, having committed to the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement, among other global and national commitments, says Mohamed Awer, chief executive officer at WWF-Kenya. The redoubling of the nation’s ambition to achieve the Bonn Challenge to restore 10.6 million hectares of degraded landscapes is a step in the right direction.
Read Also:
These efforts are, however, far from adequate. Concerted efforts across the continent and worldwide are required to meet global goals on nature, climate and sustainable development by 2030. The WWF report is yet another early warning indicator of increasing extinction risk and the potential loss of ecosystem function and resilience. It allows the world to intervene in time to reverse negative trends, recover species populations, and keep ecosystems functioning and resilient.
